There is so much to explore in this world ... so much to experience and so much to see... this my dream list .. lets start off on a geographic tone ... and start from the north!!
the Northern Lights- science says that when the high-energy charged particles given off by the sun collide with the gases in the ionosphere they start to glow. These are the Auroras. But in Finnish they are called "revontulet", which means "fox fires" a name derived from an ancient fable of the arctic fox starting fires. They are so beautiful ...
Then we will talk of the Ngorongoro crater... nice name huh? It's the eighth wonder of the world and is around 8,300 sq km big, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania has volcanoes, waterfalls and forests which are home to animals which are extinct elsewhere and to the Maasai tribe.
we'll come home to Mt. Everest then .. the tallest mountain in the world ... the high of being somewhere where ur looking down at everyone (literally) must be very exhilarating!! However not many ppl know that the the Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench, is so deep that Everest would have more than 2 km of water over it.
The deep reminds me of the Russian Lake Baikal, which is the largest and deepest fresh-water lake in the world. It harbors more species of plants and animals and is fed by 336 rivers and streams.
And streams reminds me of the highest "streams" ever .. the Zambian Victoria Falls. It is the ultimate outdoor experience.. it has rafting, bungeeing, canoeing, and the bestest is the amazing wildlife safaris!!
From water to land ... the Ayer Rockor Uluru is considered the largest monolith in the world. Made of sandstone, Uluru is amazing at sunset, when its color appears to change from red to purple. About 70 million years ago it was an island in a large lake.
From a rocky place to the "crocky" place, The Everglades National Park in Florida. It is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles exist side by side. Today, however, the water is diverted for human needs like drinking water and irrigation. The park is under threat... so go see it before it disappears...
And now we wander to a place where the only water u'll see will be a mirage (a trick that your eyes play on you), The african Sahara desert. However, it wasn't always like that, once water was quite abundant in the Sahara. Fossils, bone harpoons, and shells have been found near remains of giraffe, elephant, buffalo, antelopes, rhinoceros, and fish.
That brings us to the Amazon Rainforest, which is made up of rainforests, seasonal forests, deciduous forests, flooded forests, and savannas. The Amazon river's daily freshwater discharge into the Atlantic is enough to supply New York City's freshwater needs for nine years.
and last comes Arizona's Grand Canyon which is a great chasm carved over millennia through the rocks of the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado river. It must be so amazing to look at the gentle force of nature ... that somehow and someday, time will find a way...
One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a sign by his feet, that read: "I am blind, please help." A creative publicist was walking by the blind man and stopped to observe that the man only had a few coins in his hat. He put a few of his own coins in the hat, and without stopping to ask for permission, took the sign, turned it around, and wrote a new message. He then placed the sign by the feet of the blind man, and left. Later that afternoon the creative publicist returned by the blind man and noticed that his hat was almost completely full of bills and coins. The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if it was him who had changed his sign? He also wanted to know what the man wrote on it? The publicist replied: "I just changed your message so people could relate to it." He wished the man well, said goodbye, and went on his way.
The blind man didn't know it, but his new sign now read:
"TODAY IS SPRING AND I CANNOT SEE IT"
Why don't we have people seeing the horror for what it was and help us get through it rather than pat our spirits and move on wit their lives. Instead of supporting us, they block our blogs!! instead of giving the victims monetary support wr is wondering if the employees who died left before time... GOD bless us all... Everyone!!
today i felt like someone had cut off my oxygen line when i was 5000 ft below sea level ... treading water ... why u may ask...
that is because india's govt. has banned blogging sites like blogspot.com.. can u imagine???? this is supposed to be a democratic country!! they say it is to stop terrorists from interacting thro blogs ... but shudnt the "intelligence of this country"find out who r these specific blogs and who r the ppl accessing them rather than putting such a blanket ban on all things bloggy ...
ppl like me who just use the blog as a way of travelling the world or showing my friends whats happenin in my life shudnt b punished costhe intelligence thinks it cant handle blogs .... sowhat r they gonna do exactly .. read thru each and every blog in the world ????
yes granted that terrorism shud b fought at eachand every level.. butnot at thecost ofour freedom ...do u really want to alienate and anti-socializethe very law abiding citizens who make up ur city?? it is blog-happy ppl likeus who were killed on the 11th ....it is uswho rusing bloggingas a way to deal with the trauma and anguish we r going thro... plz let us survive the best way v know how ...give us today our daily blog...
This world is crumbling around all of us ... and all we can do is hope that the next boulder doesnt crush us under it ...we hear all these horror stories ... the rains, the unruly overgrown and not-so-innocent childish crazies called the Sainiks and now the blasts.
We can only hope that soon the world is taken over by people who dont care about boundaries and what religion is practised ... maybe i hope that the world shud b taken over by women?? maybe we shud b given a chance to work on this world ... after all we believe in hope and not just the hope diamond. back to the main topic however, im really left with just one question ... isnt it obvios to anyone except me that all the politicians r defi involved?? killing everyday ppl doesnt really make a diff to the govt or havent the terrorists noticed ... they just shrug off the deaths .. announce money rewards (how much can that help?) and then go back to their normal routine of bribery and corruption. isnt that wat happened after the last blasts and the rains last year as well? and one thing all politicians just have to do is praise our spirit??
stop patronizing our spirit .. we just r left wit no choice!! u think any sane person wud want to board a train ever again? v dont wanna ... v havta!! we dont want to see our children or nieces grow up in a world where murderers, rapists and terrorists go scot-free!! what can v do? v pray ... that the bus or train we r getting in doesnt hav anything left behind .. that no one hijacks our plane or puts fire to our bus ... just for the fun of it ... the only thing protecting us is plain old luck...
iv been thinking how imp luck is ... if it hadnt been for the bus service we started ... me and eisha mite have been in the train that day. there are stories of luck everyday in the paper nowadays ... people who missed the unlucky trains cos they got late at work ... people who got off at an earlier stop than usual cos of some work they suddenly remembered ... the list goes on and on ...
All this reminds me of this story written by one of my favorite authors, Roald Dahl. He had been a pilot with the Royal Air Force in the U.K. and hes written about this one time he was flying a bomber plane .... try to imagine as u read this ... I'm flying above all these little towns and villages... shud i turn left or right? whose life shud i change wit the next bomb? and whose shud i save?? no human shud b makin those choices ... isnt that for the life-giver to decide?
This is a pre-cursor to my post about Berlin-- world's best city no.12. This shows one of the big landmarks in world history, the breaking down of the world's worst man-made boundary. A wall that cut through families and friends. A wall that made fun-filled lives incomplete and miserable. A wall that was raised by men who could not have been raised as humans. Imagine being killed for wanting to be with ur family.
i think every blog iv ever visited has a post called general ramblings .... that just go on and on about nothing in general. however, my blog has till now been about my life, the people iv met, the places iv been to and the various experiences iv had. how much is it relevant to others, i dont really know. i write primarily for my friends and myself ... and cos i wanna get into the habit of writing for writing's sake.
there r ppl who say that writing is a very cathartic and therapeutic experience (content development is what we need catharsis from) i just need to write things down cos there is so much always going on in my head and i just need to get it out. now lets get down to business shall v?
i had so much fun on andoo's b'day and mine ... they're just 2 days apart so v tried a lot to give quality time to each other .. tho he did get disappointed cos on my b'day i wasnt around for very long .. but its very heart warming to see someone get upset cos u cant spend enuf time wit them... v saw hera pheri and hated it ... v went to thai lotus and loved it .. we sat and talked about everything and nothing and it was one of the best days of my life... im sooo thankful to hav a friend wit whom i can talk and talk and talk and not bore or get bored!! and the best part is that im gonna spend my life wit him!
on a more sombry note... i just lost my dog cos of old age ... and i was surprised at how many people hav gone thro this anguish and how many people understand when ur in the numbed-out stage ... to all the ppl who stood by me ... i will not thank u but trust me i will always pray for u and ur doggies (if u hav had any)
now gettin un-sombry... i tried out pandora, flickr, youtube and flickster.. all of them techie things which iv enjoyed exploring!!! its nice to customise ur blog so that there is something diff in it.. tho im still trying to get a bigger template ... (andoo help!!) but that cant b worked on much cos iv been given a lot of work suddenly so iv been outta circulation on the blogging front... iv been havin a really tough fortnight or so .. horrible deadlines ... i am told to do stuff that had to b delivered y'day!! reona sent me a postcard ... really cool na?? i hav the reply all ready and stuff but i havnt been able to mail her ... bad bad me!! o well ... i hope i remember when i can do something about it ... more rambles for later ... tata
It is only in my 30s that I have realised I will never be the elegant lady who can wear white without spilling something on it. I recognise my blessings like my family, my friends & my job & I am letting go of my fears of writing & just jumping in. I love my job. It has given me the opportunity to live in a city where I am surrounded by the most amazing friends in the world & the most surreal experiences. It also gives me the opportunity to read great books & travel to fascinating new countries. Join me as I share these with the world.
next boulder doesnt crush us under it ...we hear all these horror stories ... the rains, the unruly overgrown and not-so-innocent childish crazies called the Sainiks and now the blasts.
